Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an image processing apparatus, a method, and a program recording medium, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus having the function of updating firmware, a method of carrying out the updating, and a program recording medium.
Description of the Related Art
Image processing apparatuses used in offices (for example, copiers, printers, and MFPs (Multi-Function Peripherals) that combine those functions) communicate with a user's computer through an intranet or other networks. The user's computer generally has a World Wide Web (hereinafter abbreviated as Web) browser, and the image processing apparatus includes a Web page creator implemented by an application program that creates a Web page compatible with the computer's Web browser. When receiving an inquiry for information (for example, information indicating the state of the image processing apparatus) from the computer's Web browser, the Web page creator creates a Web page based on the inquiry and transmits the created Web page to the computer. The computer's Web browser receives the Web page and displays an image based on the received Web page on the display.
The computer's Web browser is updated due to addition of a new function. In such a case, the Web page creator of the image processing apparatus need to be updated so as to create a new Web page compatible with the updated Web browser.
The application program of the Web page creator is generally included in the firmware of the image processing apparatus. Therefore, when the Web page creator is updated, it is necessary to update the firmware. Unfortunately, during updating of the firmware, the user is unable to use the image processing apparatus. The reason for this is that the image processing apparatus need to re-expand the updated firmware into a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the running application program should be stopped for the purpose of the re-expansion.
In order to avoid this problem, a part of the application program (module) to be changed (changed part) is stored into an HDD (Hard Disc Drive), and the unchanged part is stored separately into a ROM, whereby the changed part in the HDD alone can be updated with a module acquired by accessing an application store from the Web browser, without updating the firmware.
Since the rate of access to the HDD is lower than to the ROM, it takes time to expand the changed part from the HDD to the RAM at start-up of the MFP. In addition, a wait time for HDD initialization occurs. For these reasons, the application program is slow to start up. Meanwhile, the user is unable to use the application program. In such a case, when the user is remotely accessing the MFP by operating an external terminal, the MFP does not transmit a notification of the state of the MFP to the external terminal. This makes the user feel stress in the wait time resulting from the slow start-up.
During start-up of the MFP, the changed part of the application program is unable to be expanded from the ROM into the RAM. For this reason, the changed part is stored in the HDD in advance, and after a request is received from the Web browser of the user's external terminal, the MFP reads out the changed part from the HDD and transmits a response to the Web browser based on the read changed part. The Web browser performs rendering based on the received response to display a screen of a Web page. In this case, it takes time to access the HDD, thereby deteriorating the performance from the request to the screen showing up. In addition, since the user's external terminal and the MFP communicate with each other via a network, network communication takes place every request/response, and the wait time further increases by the length of the communication time. As a result, the user feels stress as described above.
In order to avoid such reduction in user convenience, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2014-229140 proposes a method of replacing a language file without updating firmware. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-310783 proposes a method of automatically updating firmware data when a device inactive state is selected.